Help with choosing T5 for my grow place

Hi everyone,

I am avid reader of RIU and I have a quick question to the gurus. I have a 4ft wide, ~5.5ft high and 2ft deep closet. I was going to buy a T5 system since heat will be a pain to deal with if I go with HPS.

Since I am a first time grower I would like to keep my variables limited. I am going to do a DWC tote method. However, I am having a hard time choosing how many T5s do I need for 4 plants? Would a 2ft 2 or 4 bulbs do the job? Or should I go with 4ft 4 bulbs? The 2ft T5 produces 2500 lumens and the 4ft will produce 5000 lumens.

Any help is appreciated.

Here's the thing... T5 will produce more overall heat that an equal wattage HPS setup. Also, if you wire your own lights, you can put your ballasts outside your cabinet which will help reduce heat even more. Now, T5 is great for a SCROG and getting closer to your plants than an HPS bulb, but honestly, I'd still stick with HPS for a few reasons.

1. HPS light is better suited for blooming than the bloom spectrum fluoros, which means better light efficiency.

2. HPS systems are easier to wire yourself, and therefore easier to separate ballast from the cabinet.

3. HPS systems seem to be cheaper overall.

4. HPS will produce less heat in your cabinet overall, even though there will be hot spots directly near the bulbs. You can train your plants away from these hotspots with a little LST (Low Stress Training) using twine and a few hooks in the sides of your cabinet.

Either way, HPS is typically the better choice.

http://www.1000bulbs.com is the best site I've found for lights.

check out the sunblaze model 48.... it is a high output t5 grow light. it is going to just about fit perfectly in your grow area. it is just under 4ft long and just under 2 ft wide. it has 8 high output T5 bulbs. it comes with 6500K bulbs and you will have to go buy a few 3000K bulbs for flowering. i have the 28 which is the 2 ft 8 bulb version of this light.